Alien Sex - The Body and Desire in Cinema and Theology

Informationen zum Autor Gerard Loughlin is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He is a founding co-editor of the journal Theology & Sexuality . Klappentext Gerard Loughlin is one of the leading theologians working at the interface between religion and contemporary culture. In this exceptional work, he uses cinema and the films it shows to think about the church and the visions of desire it displays. In the figure of the alien, Loughlin finds a metaphor for that which is both most feared and desired: the body and its cravings. Secular culture follows St Augustine in thinking sex an alien force within the body. But the ancient church also found in sex the presence of a yet stranger desire that secularity forgets: the divine eros that is always other to us even as it draws us into its embrace. In God we find that which is both infinitely alien and intimate to ourselves. Alien Sex explores the Christian tradition of 'sacred eroticism' - from Gregory of Nyssa to Hans Urs von Balthasar. Through a close reading of such films as The Devils , Breaking the Waves and Derek Jarman's The Garden , Loughlin shows how Christianity calls us to view sexuality from the perspective of heaven, not in order to escape the body but to encounter it more intensively. Through desire of the body we regain paradise. Uses cinema and the films it shows to think about the church and the visions of desire it displays. This book discusses various films, including "The Alien Quartet", Christopher Nolan's "Memento", Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange", Nicolas Roeg's "The Man Who Fell to Earth" and Derek Jarman's "The Garden". Inhaltsverzeichnis List of Figures viii In the Lobby ix Part I Introduction 1 1 Desiring Bodies 3 Part II Cavities 33 2 Seeing in the Dark 35 3 Visionary Screens 65 Part III Copulations 103 4 Alien Sex 105 5 God's Sex 133 6 Sex Slaves 173 7 Want of Family 201 Part IV Consolations 227 8 The Man Who Fell to Earth 229 9 The Garden 257 Index 295 ...

Product details

• Authors: Loughlin, G Loughlin, Gerard Loughlin, Gerard (University of Durham) Loughlin, Loughlin Gerard
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 20.11.2003
• EAN: 9780631211792
• ISBN: 978-0-631-21179-2
• No. of pages: 340
• Series: Challenges in Contemporary The; Challenges in Contemporary Theology
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Politics; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries; Cultural Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, RELIGION / Christianity / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, RELIGION / Sexuality & Gender Studies, Theology, Christianity, Christian theology, Films, cinema, Gender studies, gender groups, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / General, Film history, theory or criticism